Strengths of the Weimar Republic

• Democratic article 1 of the constitution confirmed that germany was to be a democracy.
• the voting age was reduced from 25 to 21
• this was more democratic than Germany under the kaiser or Britain at that time
• the Reichstag was elected under a system of proportional representation. This was meant to make sure that even smaller parties had a fair share of seats in the Reichstag.
• Every party in the Reichstag was allocated one representative for each 60,000 votes in it favour.
• Checks and balance. The constitution was carefully constructed so that no one person or one group could have to much power.
• every Seven years, the electorate could change the presiden.
• the chancellor decided which laws should be passed, though under normal circumstance, these only became law if the majority of the reichstag and reichsrat voted for them
• The reichstag was more powerful House of the German Parliament for example it controlled taxation
• The reichsrat could delay any new laws passed by the reichstag, unless the Reichstag overruled it by two thirds majority.
• Central government (the president, chancellor chancellor, reichstag and reichsrat) had more power than it did under the kaiser
• However some traditional powers were retained by local government Each of the 18 regions of Germany such as (and Bavaria) kept its own local parliament called a land
• Each regions local parliament controlled key services such as police, courts and schools
• The president had the power to choose the chancellor usually the leader of the largest party.